THE HILLS AND ONGAR WIN OUT IN DRAMATIC DAY OF FINALS IN TERENURE!

Two finals took place this afternoon in Terenure CC, with firstly the Minor 2 Cup, between the 5th XI of the host club and their counterparts from The Hills.

Terenure won the toss and skipper David Johnston decided to bowl first, some tremendous batting from The Hills saw Kit Kurbah retire on 37, before Peter Stead made 38 and Max Brophy then had an unbeaten 28 to round off proceedings. Danny Whelan the pick of the bowlers for the home side with 2/23 from his four over spell. The Hills finished their 20 overs on 145/5.

The home side got off to an excellent start, with James Prendergast making 36 at the top of the order before he was dismissed by Max Stead. Jake Dillon and Khizer Afridi added 48 for the third wicket. A pair of wickets for Max Brophy rounded off a tight finish to the innings, restricting Terenure to just 112/4 and a 33 run victory for The Hills.

The second game of the day however was where the drama really unfolded, as Ongar 2 took on Sandyford 4 in the final of the Adamstown Cup, the game was a testament to the growth of the two clubs, with both teams new entries for the 2023 season. Sandyford were in fact the holders of the cup, after their 3rd XI had come out on top in the 2022 edition.

Sandyford won the toss and decided to bat first. However they were off to an unsteady start, as a pair of stumpings for Ongar gloveman and captain Durga Prasad Ravula reduced the side to 29/2. Viswanathan Umamaheswaran led the recovery, and his contribution saw the side to 85/6 with four overs remaining.

The innings threatened to peter out, however a rapid fire 27 from Nitish Batra managed to drag the scoring rate back above a run a ball, before they eventually finished on 134 from their 20 overs, a score which looked like it would be competitive, even if it were a few runs short of what they would have liked.

Ongar's chase started slowly, Piradeesh Menon taking an early wicket and keeping plenty of pressure on, with the chasing side never really getting out of second gear in their opening 8 overs. The score was 34/1, when a significant rain shower saw the game stopped for just under half an hour.

When the sides re-emerged Ongar needed 99 from 12 overs for victory, two quick wickets saw them restricted to 74/4 at the end of 13 overs. Momentum ebbed and flowed, with five overs to go the required rate was down to 8.6 per over, however two excellent overs for the fielding side saw that grow to 11.3 with three overs to go.

15 runs came from the penultimate over, meaning there were 10 needed from the last. The final over opened up with a two, before two wickets and a dot put Sandyford in the box seat yet again. A single off the fifth ball meant a simple equation, six were needed to force a Super Over, anything less would mean Sandyford win.

Nobody reckoned on the third possibility, a wide ball meant six was now needed from the last ball, and a massive blow over long-on sent the entirety of Ongar CC into raptures, with a three wicket victory secured off the final ball.